Senior Lab Daily... Antics from 14.9 years Elsa

The last few days at the beach have been great. We are doing all of the things we normally do. Ride the golf cart, walk the beach,
sit at the pool, go out to dinner, meet new friends and generally have a wonderful time.
There is one big exception. There is no physical Elsa here to share this with. No Elsa to walk the beautiful grounds and feed the turtles and ducks, no Elsa to take to the beach for a short stroll on the beach to watch the waves and smell the air.
No Elsa to take out in the middle of the night for a late potty break.
No Elsa to rush home too after a leisurely dinner with friends.
No Elsa that we can see or hear or touch. But Elsa is here.
She is here in a very big way. We can feel her presence.
Her spirit is with us every step of the way. Wherever we are, Elsa is.
And....we love that.
Elsa's ashes are here sitting on the coffee table in the living room.
We were going to scatter some on the beach and I have been thinking about it but we have mixed emotions. Elsa never liked to be out of our sight.
If we scatter some of her here we would be leaving a part of her when we go home. I think she would want to stay with us. When we come to the beach she will come with us. Leaving a part of her no matter how small is not something I feel I can do right now. I would feel like I was leaving her behind. Right now I feel that she is with me.
I want to preserve that feeling. When I want to see her I can.
When I want to smell her fur I can. All I have to do is close my eyes.
Today I could see her running the beach. I heard her tags jangling and I heard her shake as she came from the waves. She is a part of everything beautiful here forever.

In a few days I will be leaving for the beach. Your very favorite place. I am not sure how I am going to make the trip without you.
The beach was Elsa. It is only because of you that we ever went to this beach and fell in love with it. We went back every year after because you enjoyed it so much.
The last trip in June and July dad and I knew you were not yourself because for the first time ever you did not seem to care that you were at your beach. This made us prepare for what we knew was inevitably coming. We had always said when the day comes Elsa does not enjoy her beach she is losing her ability to love her life and all the special things in it that used to give her joy.
Every time we left we would write in the journal about your trip. I do not know why but the last time we did not write in it and it was to be your last trip. We always wrote how thank ful we were to have you with us for another trip to the beach and how much you loved it.
I think we knew then you could not be coming back again.
Not in this form anyway.
It will be hard to go there knowing all of your things are there.
Your leash, your bowls, your special beach bandanas. Your pictures.
I know you will be with us in spirit. I will take your ashes and maybe even scatter some on your favorite beach. You will be a part of it forever. I know it will be sad to see your beach friends who always watched to see if you had made another trip down.
It will be sad to not have you to walk around the beautiful grounds and go feed the ducks and take a stroll on the beach and watch the sunset. I will leave your things where they are. Your leash and your bowls and your bandanas. I know that one day there will be another pup for us to love who will be filling some mighty big shoes.
Send us your angel wishes Elsa. We will be missing you so much.
Mom & Dad

Good Morning Elsa, I know you are in a very special place.
I bet you are making so many friends. Everyone loved you.

Old age came quickly for you girl and it amazes me to think about it now. 15 years seemed to go by in a heart beat. Melissa was in the 4th grade when you joined our family. The good times we had, all of the great memories we have of you loving life. The memories are endless and come to us in waves.

These are some of the things that we miss.

We miss you greeting us every morning and when ever we returned from being out of the house. The way you ran and got a plush and greeted us, tail wagging so hard it would bang the wall. So happy we were home to see you.
We miss how you would dig up the covers on the beds when you were not included in the outing. We would come home and all of the covers on the beds looked like a heap. The cats looked very put out to have had their sleeping nests disturbed but you had that impish face.
"you did not take me" do I dug up your blankies. This is the most you ever did in our absence.
We miss the way you tried to get everyone to come to bed when you were tired. You would look up the steps and sigh. Come on, I am tired. Repeatedly you would do this until somebody would get the message and follow you. Sometimes you gave up and put yourself to bed. Good luck trying to find room if you got there first. You hogged the bed. Lying on your side with all legs out you would push us so you would end up with all the space and we would wake up stiff and sore from allowing you to have all the room. ?????

We miss the way you would keep us on our schedule. You were better than an alarm clock. The internal clock you had inside was amazing. The part I could have done without though was your ability to wake up every morning at 4 am, because this is what DAD did every work day morning. Trying to tell you it was saturday or sunday made absolutely NO difference. It was MORNING and you were ready to start your day.

We miss the way you always kept your eyes on us no matter where we were. Especially in unfamiliar territory. Trips home from the beach etc. If we were out of the car or in a store you kept a very steady gaze on us least we got out of your site and cause you anxiety. The way you would cran your neck around an obstacle blocking your site and strain to see where we had gone. Can you see us still now girl?

The way you would walk with no leash needed. You would only go ahead a few yards before turning to make sure we were right there behind you.

We miss your steady presence. No matter what we did you were there to join us. Thumping that happy tail under the desk while I worked, waiting patiently for "Elsa" time. And if that time got a bit long, the way you brought me your toy and put it on my lap and with that soft nose nudged me......"Hey time to play with me, mom".....

We miss your love of pizza. It was amazing. We had pizza almost every friday. Dad would say "I am going to get pizza" wait for me
and sure enough you sat at that door just waiting for your pizza pie.
There is not a time now that we do not get that pizza and think of you and the joy that crust and a piece of cheese gave you.
We absently still set it aside for you. I hope they have pizza on the bridge Elsa. Maybe you have your own pizza place now.

We miss your ability to understand words. I remember when you were in your prime and your ears were still very keen we would have to spell out certain things to keep you from hearing and then even that did not work for long.
You had a long list of words that you understood. It was amazing.

We miss how you would go to your leash hook and rattle your leash when it was time to go on a walk.

We miss your knocking on the slider door when you wanted in.
Some days I still think I hear you knocking.

We miss your games. Lots of times we thought we taught you the game but I think it was the other way around. The ball on the steps game was one of your rainy day favorites. When it rains like today I can still see you sitting at the top of the steps waiting for me to notice that you wanted to play the step game. I remember you would run up and just let the ball drop down, bounce, bounce, bounce, until I realized you were waiting to play the ball/step game.

We miss your frisbee antics. Your ability to throw that toy right back to us was spectacular to see.

We miss you being able to retrieve the exact plush we asked for.
Your "baby" your "monkey" your "purple squeeky guy"...if we asked for one of those by name, you retrieved it. And if you could not find it you quickly you became so focused on finding it you would run up and down and all over looking for the requested toy.

We miss everything Elsa. You were such a good friend.
A comfort, a loyal buddy and a soft bundle of joy.

I was pained for you in the last months when you could no longer enjoy your life in the way you once did. Your last two years were a steady progression of lost abilities. I worried endlessly when I was out of the house.

Had you fallen, if so, could you get up. Were you in pain?
Were you waiting for me to help you. Worry, worry.

I hate to focus on what you could no longer do and the pain I knew you must have felt at times regardless of all of the meds but it makes me realize that there was nothing more I could do.

I wished more than anything I could give you new legs, new ears and a new lease on life. I was not ready to be without you. I wished for you to be a puppy again enjoying life with that abandon that dogs do.

This is a wish that could not be granted. The best we could do for you was let you go to where you would no longer pace in pain, circle for minutes trying to find a comfortable way to lower your old body to your bed to sleep, eat with gusto with no stomach pain and retching that would follow a filling meal.
drink as much water as you wanted, sleep soundly and dream your doggie dreams with your paws running as you slept, run again without falling, walk soundly without tripping,and falling. The ability to enjoy all the outdoors has to offer, hear us praise you and tell you how good you are, jump in the car and go for a ride, walk up and down steps to check on your family no matter where they may be in the house, greet your friends with your toys and let them know you loved them, enjoy your beloved beach, run in the sand, frolic in the waves and meet new friends and so much more that was a part of your long, healthy life with us.

We could not give you those things back. Not in this life.

It was time to let you go to a special place where you would get those Elsa qualities back again. We had to let your body rest so your soul could run free again.
We are missing you Elsa. Thanks for being our wonderful friend.

Not a day goes by when you are not thought of.
I hope you understand what you meant to us. Pretty girl,
our forever friend, we love you.
Mom, Dad, & Melissa

Hi Mom, Dad and Melissa, Pumpkin and Pavorotti,
I see you have a guest this week, my friend, Doc. HI BUDDY!
It is nice to see you enjoying my old stomping ground. Take good care of the place will you? Make sure those cats don't act up.
Especially Pavorotti. Do not be too scared of him Doc you have the upper hand you are much larger. Just give him a deep WOOF and he will think twice about swating you.
I see you invited the neighbors over and had a nice cook out.
I could smell the grill and it was like a whiff of fresh air to me. Ahhhhhh...........burgers...................
Sorry you could not go to the beach Doc but really you will have a good time with my family. They need a warm, furry friend to talk to and take on walks and stuff right now. Be a good boy. Thanks for stepping up. If anybody needs any angel dustings just think of me and I will sprinkle you with angel kisses.
I'm am there with you.
Love,
Guardian Angel Elsa

Go see my handsome Max's page # 867860, he is so cute.
Even though he is a big guy he was so sweet with me when I last visited his beach place in June. He likes to play but he just stood with me while we watched the water.
He has a brand new dogster page today.
867860
Guardian Elsa Angel

Hello Neighbors, Friends and Family,
Thanks for visiting my web page. Mom and Melissa created this for me because they love me so much.
Please sign my guest book and if you have a pic please put it on there for all to see. I really want my local doggie friends to be visible to everyone on dogster. Perry Hall ROCKS! Kitty pics too.
If you have a story about your own loved pet please e mail mom at her mustangmari@comcast.net.
Mom loves to read pet stories. She misses me so much.
To my local pup friends please take care of my neighborhood for me, there is much to do to watch over Perry Hall so take over for me, will you? Have fun with your families and be the best pup you can be.
I will be watching over all of you and your loved ones here on the Bridge.
I am a guardian angel dog now.
Love to my family and yours,
Elsa

Good Morning Elsa,
Like every other morning for the last 15 years I am sitting here with
Pumpkin having my coffee. He has started to sit next to me on the chair cushion as I work on my lap top. It is a beautiful morning.
Just the kind you would have loved. I am missing you Elsa.
I wish I could hug you today. You have been gone only a couple of weeks yet it feels like forever to me.
I know you were old and I know you were not comfortable and able to live your life to the fullest any more but I feel selfish today and I wish I could pet you today and ask you if you wanted to go outside for a very slow stroll around the front. There you would watch the neighbors leave for work and wait for them to notice you and say hi in your very quiet, Elsa way. Eyes fixed on them, tail waggin, patiently waiting for that "hi girl".
I miss you. 15 years is a long time and it feels empty here now without you. Send me some angel kisses today girl.

A year ago today you left your family for heavens gate. The fight you waged against your disease acute leukemia was finally won.
Free to be the Joan everyone loved once again. No more pain, no more fight. No more weakness and inability to eat.
I remember when the battle wore you down. I would walk over to visit you while you sat on your porch. You would pet me and talk softly to me. You were one of my best friends. I always looked over for you when I came outside to walk. I did not know where you had gone when your chair set empty. Now we are both together forever. Running, eating what ever we want, having a good time with our friends. Major is here, Sarge is here and we have a party every day. Forever together free of pain and strife. Guardian Angels watching over our loved ones.
Sprinkling angel dust on Laura today for her birthday!
See it glistening..........happy birthday Laura, today, on her mom
Joan's angel anniversary.
Guardian Angel Elsa

A Life Well Lived Is A Precious Gift, this is what the card said that my parents gave us today. Along with a beautiful statue of a Willow Tree Angel holding a baby yellow lab. It says Angel of Friendship.
What a beautiful and thoughtful gift. Thanks Mom and Dad. This means the world to us.
This Angel of Friendship made me think. When you set out to acquire a dog you do so for many reasons but I imagine it is never for the reason that you are hoping that they will teach you something.
But I can tell you this, after spending 15 years with Elsa she taught me so many things.
Just the simple things that make up a day in the life of a lucky dog.
A good home, plenty to eat, a warm place to sleep, vet care,
and the love of a good family. These things mean more than anything to this member of your family. And most of us provide these and much more to our dogs without really thinking about it. In doing this every day we learn something. We learn how to take care of another, we learn how to be compassionate, we learn how to respond to another's needs and wants. We learn how to enjoy life on simpler terms.
All we need is a leash in our hand and a pretty day and we have learned how to give our dog the kind of joy we probably get from taking a 2 week cruise. Just those little extra attentions, the petting of that soft head, the countless hours they spend awaiting our return.
We have learned what a gift the love of a good dog can be.
We are rewarded each and every day we share our lives with a dog.
You just have to be looking for it.
So as the years go by and you continue to share your life with your dog make sure you notice that they are keenly observing you day after day after day. The sign that stems from you that it is time to eat, time to play, time to walk or time to go to bed is all cherished by your dog. Notice that. Because too soon a time will come when you are seeing the hands of time go by too quickly. Old age comes quickly for a dog . We can't get back the puppy years or the middle years.
No more than we can do it for ourselves. Old age creeps up and steals them and soon they will no longer be with us.
Cherish them now and you will always be rewarded with a beautiful angel of friendship. Whom in the end will teach us so much more than we could ever teach them.
Thank you Elsa for being my friend and teacher for 15 years.
Missing you so much,
Love,
Mom